Abstract

This study is to investigate the anti-obesity effect of a type of brown macroalgae commonly found in Sabah (Sargassum polycystum) on body weight of rats fed with high fat diet supplemented with different doses of the seaweed powder. This study also aims to determine the efficacy of different treatment doses of the seaweed powder on rats in prevention of obesity. Thirty male Sprague Dawley rats were divided into five groups, each representing control negative (CN), control positive (CP), low, medium and high seaweed dosage group (LDG, MDG and HDG). Study duration was seven weeks. All groups were fed high fat diet throughout the study except for CN group, which was fed normal rat chow. LDG, MDG and HDG high fat diet were supplemented with 2.5%, 5.0% and 10.0% seaweed powder, respectively. By comparing with CP group, throughout the study, it was found that HDG group (10.0% seaweed treatment diet) showed the most supporting effect in suppressing weight gain, followed by MDG group (5.0% seaweed treatment diet). LDG group (2.5% seaweed treatment diet) did not show inhibition on weight gain
during the study, probably due to the short trial duration. This study found that S. polycystum powder treatment had positive effect in inhibiting weight gain and has
promising value in preventing and/or combating obesity problem in future.